Ludhiana, July 13
Budding table tennis players of the city and its surrounding areas have reason to cheer as former international paddler, Jawahar Bhandari, has set up an academy here to train and hone skills of young paddlers. Mr Bhandari, who represented Oriental Bank of Commerce in the various inter-bank national level table tennis tournaments for more than two decades, started a coaching academy for the aspirants here at Rajguru Nagar.
Hailing from Ambala, Jawahar won the crown in the Junior National Championship in 1974. After joining the bank, Jawahar participated in a number of tournaments and made his presence felt in every meet. He represented Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Bhandari, who resigned early this year as branch manager at Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, came here three months ago. Having a passion for the game, Jawahar started an academy at his house and started training upcoming players in the age groups of 5 to 17 years. At present, there are two dozen trainees, including beginners enrolled with his academy who are imparted training to further improve their game.
Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Jawahar Bhandari said that he had contacted certain office-bearers of the Ludhiana District Table Tennis Association for assistance in running his academy so that the young players could be benefitted. He appreciated the response of the association members who assured him of all help.
“I have chalked out a plan to shift the academy to a more spacious place in order to provide sufficient facilities to trainees and hope that very soon, local players would be able to find a niche for themselves at the state and national level table tennis tournaments,” Bhandari opined.
